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London Buses route 229
London Buses route 229 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. Running between Thamesmead and Queen Mary's Hospital, it is operated by Arriva London. History Route 229 commenced operation on 21 February 1951 as a very short route running between Sidcup garage and Sidcup Wren Road via Sidcup Station - Faraday Avenue as a Monday to Saturday service. The route was initially operated by London Transport from their Sidcup (SP) garage using SRT class double-deckers. On 2 May 1951, RTL class double-deckers were introduced. On 17 October 1951, the route was revised to operate between Orpington station and Sidcup via Orpington High Street - Chipperfield Road - St Mary Cray Stn - Midfield Way - Foots Cray - Sidcup - Sidcup Station. At the same time, a Sunday service was introduced and the route was converted to full RTL class double-decker operation. On 22 October 1952, it was extended to Bexleyheath garage. On 4 March 1959, the route was extended north to Woolwich, replacing trolleybus route 698. On 21 May 1977, route 229 was withdrawn between Woolwich and Bexleyheath (apart from peak journeys to Erith) but extended the other end from Orpington station to Farnborough replacing the withdrawn section of route 51. On the same date, the AEC Regent III RTs were replaced by AEC Routemasters. On 4 September 1982, route 229 was withdrawn between Green Street Green and Farnborough, being replaced by route 261. It was converted to one man operation with Daimler Fleetlines on the same date. On 1 November 1982, the Daimler Fleetlines were replaced by Leyland Titans. On 4 May 1986, the Leyland Titans were replaced by Leyland Olympians. On 16 August 1986, the sections between Green Street Green and Sidcup garage, and Bexleyheath garage and Bexleyheath Market Place were withdrawn. The route was put out to tender and won by Bexleybus, using Daimler Fleetlines. On 16 January 1988, the route was revised to terminate at Foots Cray on the closure of Sidcup garage. The route was also transferred to Bexleyheath (BX) garage. On 19 January 1991, the route was diverted to serve Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup. On 8 October 1994, it was extended from Erith to Thamesmead. On 1 April 2000, the route was converted to low floor using Plaxton President bodied Volvo B7TLs. On 24 January 2004, the route was retained by London Central. On 22 January 2011, the route was retained by London Central with brand new Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B9TLs introduced. On 5 November 2011, brand new Alexander Dennis Enviro 400s were introduced. From 5 March 2015 until 24 March 2015, a Wright Eclipse Gemini 3 bodied Volvo B5TL demonstrator was temporarily introduced. On 23 January 2016, the route passed to Arriva London operating from their Dartford (DT) garage using Alexander Dennis Enviro 400s. On 26 October 2019, part of the allocation was transferred to Manor Road (MR) garage. Current route *Thamesmead Thamesmere Drive *Abbey Wood Station *Lower Road for Belvedere Station *Erith *Barnehurst *Bexleyheath *Bexley Station *Sidcup Station *Sidcup Queen Mary's Hospital External links *London Bus Routes Gallery *Full Timetable (PDF) 229, London Buses routes